NY Police Commissioner William Bratton is disturbed about the number of incidents involving drunken cops
It’s no secret that cops do a lot of drinking to relieve themselves of the stress accruing from their job. Fortunately, most of the time they’ve got the good sense not to do anything foolish while drinking off-duty.
TWO NYPD COPS SHOOT GUNS WHILE DRUNK AND OFF-DUTY, POLICE SOURCES SAY
Officer Brendan Cronin shot a stranger six times and Sgt. Wanda Anthony fired at a former boyfriend and his new squeeze, but missed both of them
By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
April 30, 2014
Two drunken NYPD cops fired their guns in separate, off-duty incidents, one of which involved an officer emptying his handgun — firing 13 rounds — at a man inside a nearby car, hitting him six times, police sources said Wednesday.
Both cops were arrested. The lawman who fired a baker’s dozen, Officer Brendan Cronin, who is assigned to the 46th Precinct in the Bronx, was behind the wheel in Pelham, Westchester County, late Tuesday night when he unloaded on a 47-year-old man who was a passenger in a car that was idling in front of him, Pelham Police Chief Joseph Benefico said.
Cronin was apparently so intoxicated he later claimed he “doesn’t remember what happened,” a police source said.
About three hours later, outside a strip club in Somerset County, N.J., NYPD Sgt. Wanda Anthony, assigned to the 122nd Precinct in Staten Island, fired at least one round at a former boyfriend and his new squeeze, law enforcement sources said. No one was hit. Anthony, who fled in a car, was pulled over and charged with driving while intoxicated following the 3 a.m. incident by the Watchung Police Dept.
The back-to-back off-duty shootings followed an incident Thursday in which off-duty Det. Jay Poggi shot his partner through the wrist after each had downed at least 11 drinks in the Rockaways. “I personally am very disturbed about a number of incidents in recent weeks that are part of a long-term problem of inappropriate use of alcohol by members of the department,” NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said .
Cronin, who is 27, joined the force in 2008, and lives in Yonkers, had been drinking with a fellow off-duty NYPD cop on City Island before driving north into Westchester, police sources said.
He opened fire at the idling car on Lincoln Ave. near Sixth Ave. in Pelham, authorities said. Thirteen shell casings were recovered, police sources said. The wounded man, who suffered six non-fatal bullet wounds to his torso, an arm and a hand, was taken by private means to Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. His name was not released.
Cronin was pulled over a short time later by Pelham cops after motorists called 911 to report a man driving erratically with his car’s hazard lights flashing. As officers approached his ride, Cronin brandished his 9-mm Glock, which was empty of bullets, then dropped it out of an open car window when commanded to do so by the cops, authorities said. He was arrested and charged with assault.
It remained unclear why Cronin opened fire on the idling car, Benefico said. “The initial indication is that this was a random act,” the Pelham police chief added. “We have not been able to find any link between the two persons.”
Cronin refused a Breathalyzer test, Benefico said. He was believed to have been drunk at the time of the shooting, Bratton said.
The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau was investigating the shooting as well as the one involving Anthony, who is a 14-year veteran. The Somerset County Prosecutor’s office was also investigating the latter shooting.
Both Cronin and Anthony were suspended from the force for 30 days, pending the outcome of the investigations.
1 comment:
Booze and guns don't mix. The NYPD policy (which I believe still exists) which REQUIRES that their officers be armed off-duty might also be the cause of some of these problems. People who are drunk do dumb stuff. People who are drunk and armed do dangerous dumb stuff.
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